The Metco division will be absorbed by Oerlikon’s Balzers
division, creating a spray coatings supplier with 1.2 billion
francs in sales, Pfaeffikon, Switzerland-based Oerlikon said in
a statement today. Viktor Vekselberg is the largest shareholder
in both Sulzer and Oerlikon through his Renova Group.

The deal ends a six-month sale process, with the job of
integrating Metco falling to Chief Executive Officer Brice Koch,
who joined from ABB Ltd. this month. Oerlikon has been seeking
to deploy 470 million francs from the sale of a natural-fibers
business to China’s Jinsheng group in July. Oerlikon plans to
form a new division called Surface Solutions to house brands
such as Balzers and Metco.

“By putting the two together we create a world leader in
surface solutions, also in terms of the footprint, customer
access, service, and aerospace markets, which Metco has,” Koch
said in an interview today.

Credit Suisse advised Sulzer on the sale. The value of the
deal given is based on enterprise value. Oerlikon gained 3.2
percent to 14.35 francs in Zurich as of 9:27 a.m., while Sulzer
added 2.8 percent to 139.7 francs.

Koch said he’s not expecting to eliminate any jobs, and
Oerlikon retains the financial muscle to do additional
acquisitions.

Pumpmaker Sulzer expects cash pretax proceeds of about 850
million francs from the deal, with management focused on units
serving the oil and gas, power and water markets. Closure of the
transaction is expected in the third quarter. Metco, with sales
of 690 million francs, accounted for 17.2 percent of Sulzer’s
sales in 2012.